New Christmas market in Birmingham city centre on 14 December

If you’re not yet in the Christmas spirit, then a visit to the heart of Birmingham city centre should soon change all that.

Hippodrome Square is playing host to the popular annual Southside Christmas Market on Saturday 14 December.

The day will include an exciting variety of great Christmas gift ideas as well as a feast of live music, and even a couple of special guests certain to delight younger visitors.

The outdoor craft market, running from 10am to 6pm, together with the free family activities, are certain to prove popular with visitors of all ages.

The Christmas market, curated by events organiser Bert & Gerts, will have a selection of handmade goods, artisan products and unique crafts for people to find the right gifts.

Santa’s Workshop takes place between 10am and 4pm, inviting people to become one of Santa’s honorary helpers. You can make your very own Christmas decoration to take home and put up on the tree. And why not get a selfie with Santa?

And Snowy the Giant Polar Bear is making the journey from the North Pole to appear in Southside at 11.15am, 12.15pm, 1.15pm and 3pm. This will be a must opportunity for children to meet the world's friendliest polar bear, get a bear hug, and snap another selfie.

Musical entertainment includes:

·         10.30am and 11.45am: two performances by Birmingham’s Voice of The Town Choir, with a range of different styles, including Soul/Funk, Gospel, Pop/Rock, Dance and RnB.

·         1.45pm: the award-winning Got 2 Sing Choir, with a blend of pop hits and seasonal classics.

·         3.15pm and 5.15pm: Amy Hunt and Andrey Fjeldstad, both 4th year Royal Birmingham Conservatoire students, performing as Nordlys Duo, who take their name from the Scandinavian for Northern Lights.

Lawrence Barton, chair of Southside Business Improvement District (BID), explained that regular markets in the area helped to attract more visitors.

He said that while regional footfall was down by 0.01% during November, and fell by 0.5% nationally, Southside district recorded a 5.2% increase on the previous year with more than 1.178 million visitors across the month.

Mr Barton said: “Markets played a significant part in that, with Southside’s busiest day throughout November being the Halloween-themed market day on 9 November which saw 61,337 visitors over the course of the day.

“We look forward to seeing more visitors again on 14 December as a result of our popular Southside Christmas Market.”

ENDS